Sunday, September 13, 2015

Over the summer, there's a drive in movie an hour or so from here. We thought we'd better check it out. Because it's a double feature & finishes at 1am, we figured staying over was probably a good plan.

I booked us a room at a local motel, it looked okay on the interweb...

When we arrived, a scary woman with not many teeth took my money and told us to drive around the back and go in that way. Down a shady alleyway we went, past the dumpster with a homeless guy fossicking about, past a huge pile of rubble, and through a really really shady looking door which we assumed was going to lead us into the actual motel.

The room wasn't so bad. Clean, two beds, operational plumbing. Yeeha. Okay, so the motel complex itself looked like something out of an episode of Criminal Minds, but the pool didn't have a dead body floating in it, so we were winning. Just in case, we took all our good stuff out of the motel room again when we left to go to the movie.

We stopped to get something to eat on the way to the movie and came up against the fun of Canadian liquor licensing - you can't go into a pub/restaurant with kids as you would in NZ. You instead have to go to a 'Family Restaurant'. Oh joy. Apparently kids aren't actually allowed to eat food here, they have to eat chicken fingers & french fries & giant hunks of raw veges with mystery ranch dressing, and that's about it. We really need to do some research before we try to go and eat anywhere again.

The drive in was awesome! We got there pretty early, word on the street was that the Minions/Jurrasic World double feature was going to be pretty popular of a Saturday night, and it was best to get there well ahead of time. We scored a sweet parking spot, set up camp, and had a brilliant time.

Reaaaaally need to learn the words to O Canada before this happens again...

With immaculate timing, the kids crashed out in between the Minions finishing & the dinosaurs starting, which meant we could watch Chris Pratt and his raptors in peace and avoid months of dinosaur related nightmares.

On our way into town on movie day, we came upon a mysterious produce stall decorated by giant dinosaurs and other creatures. And goats. The goats were real. They (the shop, not the goats) sold fruit & veges, and sausages, and all sorts of weird random delicious stuff. We went back the morning after the movie to eat giant hotdogs for breakfast. Splendid! After the whole dinner failure we figured really good hot dogs were an excellent breakfast option.

Morals of the story : the drive in is awesome, the motel is scary & next time we should take our tent, and the dinosaur goat vege shop is the best place to eat in that part of the valley.

We had a pretty shit cat experience a few months back. Being from a land where there just isn't anything that's going to eat your pets, we really didn't expect that wild animals would be roaming the streets.

Sadly, up here, there are wild animals roaming the street. Coyotes mostly, but a month ago I did see a photo of a bear in someone's driveway a few streets over. Ermmm....

Anyhow, we've learned our lesson, and having an outdoor cat around here is a pretty stupid thing to do. Poor Nala had an ace life with us, albeit a short one, and I'm sure she's chasing moths up in kitty heaven.

After spending a week crying because I was the most crap cat owner in the world, my friend Emma found out that she & her family were on the move, and shifting from Toronto to Japan - and their beloved Digsy wasn't able to make the move with them. After we had to rehome Boomboom & Puma when we moved, I totally understood how she was feeling, and asked if maybe she wanted him to come and live with us (after promising that he'd never go outside & get eaten by anything).

Digsy got on a plane in Toronto, and made an epic cross country journey to Kelowna.

After a month or so he's warming up - he comes out at night to watch Trailer Park Boys and hang out with us, and he's even starting to show himself to the kids (who scare the crap out of him with their noisy feet upstairs).

And luckily he's never been outside, having lived in an apartment for his whole life! Hurrah! He doesn't know what's out there, so can happily live a fabulous life, safely inside the house.

* Survived the longest summer in history. Whoever the crazy person was that decided 10 weeks is an appropriate length for summer holidays is a psychopath, who hates everyone. Had a few fantastical adventures, a bit of camping, a mission to a fabulous drive in movie (and a stay in a motel which looked like a location for an episode of Criminal Minds), and a lot of swimming in the lake. Thank god for a swimmable lake, it was a hot hot hot summer.

* School went back this week. Hurrah. Jarvis got a spot at the school which is a short walk from home this year, no more catching a bus past that school & down the hill to the next one. And finally, after living up here for almost eight months, I've met some nice people in the neighbourhood (aside from my awesome friend next door who is amazing, but eight months & only one friend nearby is a little weird). Pretty tough crowd round these parts.

* Harvest is imminent. Like next week imminent. Boo. Back home, I'd shove the kids in the car & go somewhere when shit got busy, but that's not going to work out here as a) I have nowhere to actually go, and b) instead of a two week school holiday falling in the busiest part of harvest, school has just gone back after a ten week break. Gifts of alcohol, chocolate, and caffeinated beverages welcomed.

* Halloween is also imminent, which is way more fun. Jarvis had me sew a jedi robe for him last week, the perfect halloween costume. Especially as it works with the weather & you can make it seasonally appropriate pretty easily. Halloween is a BIG DEAL where we live. I probably should start drawing up plans for themed landscaping now.

* Celebrated school going back by having some alone time & going for a run (a fine way to avoid cleaning the house). Probably unwise to go for a long run after several months of doing nothing. Ouch.

That's all for now. I hear some kind of Jedi/Clone battle going down on the trampoline which I probably should check out. Ka kite.

Making: A bloody mess & a lot of (decaf) coffee. I think the coffee is a psychological thing ;) Cooking: A pretty weird assortment of food. When Shane's away I kind of lose the will to cook properly.Drinking: Coffee! And white tea with Jasmine. The gorgeously fabulous coffee maker below was a present we bought ourselves to celebrate moving to the other side of the world! Also a wee bit huge amount of red wine of an evening to celebrate surviving the days with Shane away!

Reading: The Chimes, by Anna Smail. Quite hard work on my addled brain, but a really great book. I think I need something light to read alongside it. Wanting: Shane to get home! Only a few more days...Looking: at all of the boxes still unpacked & wishing they'd magically do it themselves. Playing: Guitar with the kids at Olive's preschool on Fridays. Fun :) Deciding: What to make for Jarvis' birthday party on Friday. Wishing: Everything was unpacked & in its place. And that the kids clothes were organised in some way! Enjoying: Spring! Waiting: to meet Shane at the airport on Saturday night. It's been a long month. Liking: Getting to know our new cat. She's pretty cool. Wondering: if there are any really awesomely fabulous people in my neighbourhood for me to be friends with! I've met one really nice lady, but surely there must be more! Loving: Watching the kids play really hilarious imaginary games the past week or so. They're great. Pondering: Watching: The Blacklist - watched about a zillion episodes over the past week. Hoping: the warm weather hangs around! I'm liking not having to turn the heat on! Marvelling: at central heating ;) After living in NZ and working so hard to heat our house, central heating is like magic! Needing: To get out for a run. Can't really ditch these two here so it's been a month of no running. Smelling: Beautiful soy candles mum made & sent in with our stuff. French pear is my fave. Wearing: All of the dresses I haven't seen since December! Following: My lovely friend Clare and missing her to bits! Noticing: Walking out the door & seeing green leaves on trees which were bare last week. Knowing: Shane will be home on Saturday night!!! Hurrah! Thinking: I must vacuum the house...but it's such a big house! Ugh! Admiring: My beautiful drawings by my even more beautiful friend Jessica . So wonderful to unpack & find them. Buying: Crap for Jarvis' birthday party. Getting: nervous about said birthday party. I don't think birthday parties here are quite the same thing as what I'd usually do...Bookmarking: sewing ideas for if I ever actually manage to make space to sew. Or can stay awake long enough to sew. Opening: Birthday parcels from NZGiggling: at the things Olive comes out with. She crept into our room the other morning & informed me she can transform into a robotic cat. Feeling: tired, mostly. Grateful to have our stuff though :)

Hurrah! We have furniture! We've had furniture for almost two weeks, and for almost two weeks I've been trying really hard to unpack it (ha ha, with limited success).

We left NZ in such a hurry (it was less than two months from the day we found out we were leaving til the day we left), and the fabulous husband was so busy at work wrapping up his job, that I got pretty overwhelmed by the organising of stuff and as a result a whole lot of stuff ended up here which really should have gone to the op shop/rubbish dump/anywhere other than here! Lunchboxes with no lids, anyone?

Just to add to the all kinds of crazy, the fabulous husband has been away for work pretty much all month - he was home (hurrah!) for three days, one of which happened to be the day our stuff arrived! That was very auspicious.

So, husband away, and spring break. Two weeks of small children on holiday who open boxes, rip everything out, and throw it on the floor.

Opening the boxes is a bit like a lucky dip. We'd put almost all of our stuff into a storage unit when we put our house on the market (again, at great speed), and because of the rush there wasn't so much organisation involved. The moving men had to repack everything that was down in the storage unit for insurance purposes, which means 80% of the boxes have completely random contents! Clothes, a bit of fabric, a frying pan, a few my little ponies!

Anyhow, with Jarvis' birthday party on Friday, I need to at least get one level of the house looking like less than a bomb site. Not sure if I'm winning, but I have a couple of days left...And fortunately I have wine to keep me going! Anyone want to fly over & give me a hand? :D

Friday, March 6, 2015

Hmm, perhaps this could keep me entertained whilst the husband is away for work? I bought Gertie Sews Vintage Casual a couple of weeks ago, and it's pretty much my ideal wardrobe. I need to put my new sewing machine to work pronto!